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Is Franklin Growth Allocation A (FGTIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you've been stuck searching for Allocation Balanced funds, you might want to consider passing on by Franklin Growth Allocation A (FGTIX - Free Report) as a possibility. FGTIX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Zacks' Allocation Balanced funds is an area filled with options, such as FGTIX. These funds like to invest in a variety of asset types, finding a balance between stocks, bonds, cash, and sometimes even precious metals and commodities; they are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. For investors, Allocation Balanced funds can provide an entry point into diversified mutual funds, and present core holding options for a portfolio of funds.
History of Fund/Manager
FGTIX is a part of the Franklin family of funds, a company based out of San Mateo, CA. Franklin Growth Allocation A debuted in December of 1996. Since then, FGTIX has accumulated assets of about $1.19 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 9.94%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 6.48%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of FGTIX over the past three years is 14.27% compared to the category average of 14.27%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 14.52% compared to the category average of 15.11%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.79, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. FGTIX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.95, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, FGTIX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.63% compared to the category average of 0.91%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FGTIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Franklin Growth Allocation A ( FGTIX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Allocation Balanced funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare FGTIX to its peers as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.
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Is Franklin Growth Allocation A (FGTIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you've been stuck searching for Allocation Balanced funds, you might want to consider passing on by Franklin Growth Allocation A (FGTIX - Free Report) as a possibility. FGTIX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Zacks' Allocation Balanced funds is an area filled with options, such as FGTIX. These funds like to invest in a variety of asset types, finding a balance between stocks, bonds, cash, and sometimes even precious metals and commodities; they are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. For investors, Allocation Balanced funds can provide an entry point into diversified mutual funds, and present core holding options for a portfolio of funds.
History of Fund/Manager
FGTIX is a part of the Franklin family of funds, a company based out of San Mateo, CA. Franklin Growth Allocation A debuted in December of 1996. Since then, FGTIX has accumulated assets of about $1.19 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 9.94%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 6.48%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of FGTIX over the past three years is 14.27% compared to the category average of 14.27%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 14.52% compared to the category average of 15.11%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.79, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. FGTIX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.95, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, FGTIX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.63% compared to the category average of 0.91%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FGTIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Franklin Growth Allocation A ( FGTIX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Allocation Balanced funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare FGTIX to its peers as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.